Second Chances
by BlueCampanula
Summary: I was cheated on my last life, I recall that it had ended before I was ready to go. Now, I've been granted a second chance, one life that I was determined to live to the fullest. What I didn't realize at first was that I would be fighting an uphill battle for it. Why you ask? It's because of who I was reborn as; Rin Nohara from the Naruto series. Self-Insert.
1. Prologue

Author's note: Well, this is my first story that I'm writing, inspired by reading so many SI rebirth fictions. I hope this first chapter isn't too crappy.

**Prologue: Hazy Memories**

There were holes everywhere. It was as if someone decided to turn my memory into Swiss cheese. I could remember things that I had learned from that lifetime, but the memories I had of it were few and far between. I couldn't for the life of me remember who my family was or who I was friends with –hell, I couldn't even remember my own name. It was all driving me nuts.

The memories that were there, however, did help a little.

There were some details I could recall about myself. I remembered what I looked like; I had brown hair and brown eyes and a slightly athletic physique for a woman in her twenties. I knew that I wasn't a very social person and had only handful of friends I could rely on. I could also say that I came from a good family.

I even vaguely remembered how I died.

It was a quick death that ended my life; it began with a few loud sounds and then sharp pain in my chest. I went down. People screamed and ran in a panicked frenzy as I lay there losing consciousness in a pool of my own blood. It wasn't pleasant, but at least it was quick… I can remember the feeling and the thoughts that I had after I drifted into this warm, white light. Regret, sadness, and anger were the emotions that filled me. Realizing my death, I couldn't help but think that I didn't want to go; I had so much ahead of me in life.

I didn't even get to say goodbye to my family or friends. It wasn't fair. I wanted another chance at my life.

Soon after thinking that, the white void that I was in had gone dark. Everything had gone blank after that. Who I was, what I had known, it was all gone in an instant. It was, however, replaced by this indescribable feeling of happiness.

* * *

><p>I can't exactly say for sure what I remembered of the beginning of my new life. It was as if I was asleep for most of it, barely aware of what was transpiring around me, and throughout it all, I kept on having this feeling that I was forgetting something.<p>

It was frustrating. Days would pass with me listening to the sound of what I recognized as the voice of my mother, uttering a string of pleasant, smooth sounding syllables from her mouth to try and soothe my bouts of frustration. The rest of it seemed like a blur; it was as if I was given the memory and attention span of a goldfish for Pete's sake.

Eventually, about after a year had gone by, I finally began to "wake up". I could remember almost everything that I had learned growing up but could only recall hazy memories of who I was and how I lived.

This revelation hit me like a ton of bricks, and it was then that I probably threw the worst fit that I would ever have as a baby. I bawled my eyes out, I screamed, I waved my fists through the air, all the while my mother was desperately trying to ease my wrath.

When I finally managed to calm down, I realized something; I had been granted another chance at life. To take it a step further, I even had what I already knew to help me through the beginning of this life. I could make sure that I lived without any regrets this time. Upon that realization, I burst out into a fit of giggles, which confused the crap out of my already weary mother.

I studied her face. It was tired, but kind at the same time. My mother was also rather pretty; she had long, rich brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a creamy skin tone. Those traits were similar to how I had looked previously. Maybe I'd be lucky and have those traits too because, what can I say, I liked the way I looked.

As I began to wonder what my father looked like, she began speaking to me again, looking at me intently. I looked back at her a little confused; she wasn't speaking the language that I remembered and knew so well, in fact, it sounded like Japanese. Oh boy, I had been reborn in japan. It was gonna be so much fun learning a new language (note the sarcasm). One of the words that stood out to me the most was one she repeated constantly. My name. Rin.

I had an identity, a name –a new beginning. Rin was who I was now. I decided then, that I wouldn't linger on what was my past. I fully intended to live this new life the best I could, to not take it for granted, to take in this new world around me and to live my life. Little did I know that my own fate in this new life was against me from the very beginning.


	2. Chapter 1: Just a Coincidence

**Chapter one: Just a Coincidence**

The overwhelming bliss I felt from the realization of my second chance at life was short lived. As time seemed to slip by with the second year of my life, it slowly chipped away at my own obliviousness. I had begun to realize subtle signs that told me some shit was wrong with the universe…Then again, maybe not so subtle.

I had learned many things about myself and my family within the first month of my self-awareness. I noticed within the first few weeks how Mom, um, rather Okaasan, seemed to work a lot.

It always seemed that she was leaving me with a babysitter, a neighbor perhaps, whom I'd rarely pay attention to (not worth my time anyways). Okaasan would usually return much later in the day worn out, and smelling oddly like disinfectants. I had guessed that she worked at a hospital. She also dressed in a simple light blue and brown kimono.

The other thing I realized was that she was alone; I hadn't seen anything of Otosan. I could only wonder if she was divorced or if Otosan had died. Regardless of that, however, she always smiled. She was truly a kind person. About myself, I discovered that I had retained the brown hair and deep brown eyes I had before after being able to glance into a mirror while Okaasan held me. I thought that perhaps, even though I didn't have an Otosan around, I could make this life work well.

I hadn't learned much about where I lived. It was a small four room apartment styled with wood flooring and sliding doors and overall appeared normal. It was littered with various different plants, most of which I quickly learned were medicinal herbs. The only thing I really thought was really strange was how we didn't have a television or a telephone. We didn't even own a radio for that matter. And, other than my apartment, I had no clue about the world that was around me other than that we obviously didn't live in a city based on what I had seen outside of my bedroom window from my crib. That itself didn't last for much longer, however.

Some realization about where exactly I was began to dawn on me as soon as I began to utter my first words. I wanted to try and pick up Japanese as soon as I possibly could to regain some independence; therefore I started listening as soon as I became aware. In the process I probably shocked Okaasan because I was probably a few months too young to begin learning how to speak.

When I did speak, she stopped and looked and then beamed at me as if I was a prodigy; she didn't seem to question how I had picked up speech that fast. A few more months went by and I had been able to speak in short choppy, albeit slurred sentences. With that, Okaasan decided to introduce me to writing by showing me how to write my name.

She beckoned for me to sit in her lap when she took out a blank book and an ink brush. I toddled across the living room and plopped myself beside her on the chair she was sitting in. Placing the paper between the two of us, she steadily and slowly drew out some characters, making sure that I could see what she was doing.

Okaasan then pointed to the first set of characters and said "Rin. That is your first name". I realized that she was showing me how to write my own name. I traced the now dry ink with a finger to try and start memorizing it. I then looked at the other characters, realizing it was my last name and pointed to it, asking "Last name, Okaasan?" She then smiled at this and said "Yes. Do you know what your last name is?" I shook my head no. "It is Nohara. No-ha-ra" she said, gently grabbing my hand and guiding it over the characters.

That was when my thoughts started going a mile a minute.

'_Nohara… Why did that last name sound so familiar?'_

Okaasan set aside the book and got up from the chair in our living room, making her way over to the kitchen. Then I remembered, it was the last name of a minor character from an anime I watched when I was a teen_. 'Naruto. That's what it was.'_

I recalled that the girl's name was Rin Nohara… And that she had the same brown hair and eyes that I had. '_The show itself was Japanese and I was reborn in Japan... This is Japan, right?'_

I then said to no one in particular "Huh. It's just a coincidence though, right?" Somewhere deep inside me wanted to say otherwise. Okaasan then called out to me "Rin, come get your snack! It's strawberries. You like those right?" I replied with a wide grin and scrambled toward the kitchen, brushing aside my thoughts.

'_It's just a coincidence, right?'_

* * *

><p>The roof on my little world came crashing down right around my second birthday in early November. "Okaasan, I go outside?" I choked out in broken Japanese after breakfast one and it didn't help that I remember that I was an outdoorsy person in my last life.<p>

Okaasan looked up from cleaning dishes. "Of course", she replied, "I needed to get us some things. You can come help me with them." The expression on her face after the words left her mouth looked a little guilty. Maybe she had just realized that she neglected to take me outside even once thus far… Although, I don't blame her, she's just been so busy working; she was even looking more tired than usual.

Some part of me actually felt a little bad for asking after seeing her expression, but at the same time another part of me was shouting at me that I had go out. When she finished with putting away the last dish, she said "Let's get dressed to go, shall we Rin?" She then gave me a kiss on the cheek while she ruffled my hair affectionately.

The sun was still a little low in the sky when we set out walking hand in hand down the street from our apartment. There were quite a few people walking in the streets of what I learned was the village Okaasan and I lived in. It was a really colorful place with all sorts of buildings. Regardless of that, everywhere I looked it appeared that no one in the village had any sort of the highly advanced technology I was used to. Cars, televisions, phones—almost everything was absent. '_This is going to be interesting'_ I thought to myself with a confident smile, unassuming of the bombshell that was to come.

I then saw a flicker out of the corner of my eye. I looked up at a roof. There was nothing there, '_though I could have sworn I saw something_.' I thought. I shrugged it off. It was then that we rounded the corner of the street into a market that I saw something that was undeniably familiar. Then only thing I could think of was '_Shit_.'

Okaasan glanced at me briefly, giving my hand a little squeeze as we continued walking. I didn't realize that I had spoken out loud. '_Thank goodness it was English_. _She probably thinks I'm nervous.' _"Nervous as hell… Heh, I'm screwed in fact" I mumbled in English. What had I just seen, you ask, that was oh so familiar? It was three stone faces carved into the side of a cliff, casting watch over the roofs of the village. And it certainly wasn't Mount Rushmore.

* * *

><p><span>Author's note<span>: Alright, finally got chapter one off the press, even if it is a bit of a slow buildup. Sorry for making anyone wait; I wasn't too sure how to get things going and classes are going on in full swing complete with lots of homework… Anyways, hopefully next update shouldn't take too long now that I've got things going. I'd also appreciate any reviews ya'll have for me so I can make this a good story!


	3. Chapter 2: Determination

**Chapter two: Determination**

I didn't understand what it was that I was feeling at that moment or even why I reacted the way I did. Was it excitement? Sadness? Or maybe even…dread? All I knew was that there was this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Worriedly, I thought '_what do I remember about Naruto?'_

I was broken out of my thoughts by Okaasan; she had noticed my eyes focused on the faces.

"I see you've noticed the stone faces. Do you want to know who they are?" She asked. I slowly shook my head, trying to pull myself out of having a mental break down.

Kneeling down to my level, she motioned to the faces saying "They are the great leaders of our village, both past and present."

I nodded my head in understanding; I was able to remember that at least, even if I was a bit fuzzy on the details; I was really beginning to curse my splotchy memory now.

Looking up at the faces in thought, I began to think. '_Maybe hearing about them…the Hokage… might help jog my memory?' _ I brightened at that thought.

"Okaasan, tell me more!" I demanded with childish excitement.

She laughed at my response and slowly stood back up. "I'll save that story for after we get home. Shopping first."

* * *

><p>Okaasan left me to myself as we went through various shops. As she was selecting food, I was hastily glancing at my surroundings as I was lost in silent thought.<p>

The people around the village, I observed, seemed to be on edge.

When we continued from one shop to another, I even began to notice a few shinobi moving about. They slipped in and out of my sight, nearly all of them weary and armed to the teeth.

'_We are at war, aren't we?_' That was the only thing to explain the tense atmosphere I was witnessing. Even Okaasan had spring in her step as if to hurry along.

'_Maybe this was why I wasn't able to get outside until now_.' It also explained why Okaasan was gone most of the time; she was busy helping at the hospital.

She guided me to a bookstore after we finished buying the groceries and began scanning the shelves.

"Nohara-san" a voice spoke out, startling me.

I turned away from Okaasan to see a tall man with long, almost white, pale blue hair. Recognition reflected in her eyes as Okaasan turned to face him. Having gotten her attention, he spoke again.

"A new wave of injured came in and we are a bit short staffed at the hospital and need your help right away" he said urgently.

"I'll come right away, Katō- san." She nodded, identifying the man. She then sent a glance in my direction as if thinking about what to do with me.

Realizing that she wasn't alone, the man briefly looked at me and then added "Your daughter can come too, Nohara-san. My little niece is there as well and she can keep her company." He tweaked a light, sad smile on his face.

With that, Okaasan had purchased the book she held in her hands and we were off, quickly dropping our purchases back at our apartment all the while with the man walking with us.

As we left the apartment behind, I overheard Okaasan talking in a somber tone.

"I heard what happened, I'm sorry about your loss. How is your niece holding up?"

"She's mostly quiet about it, I'm not even sure if she's fully realized it yet."

They continued talking after that, though on lighter topics.

As we kept walking through the tight packed streets of Konoha, it came to mind that I remembered that the world I was in now was a much more dangerous and filled with a lot of violence and death. '_Where exactly did that leave me?_'

After a few seconds, another thought occurred to me '_I'm on my way to being left with a silent, probably depressed babysitter_. _How will I deal with that?_'

* * *

><p>We had reached the hospital shortly after. It was a big building with a blue roof and a red kanji sign above the main entrance. As soon as we walked in, I was hit by the smell of antiseptics.<p>

My mother was off in a heartbeat, leaving me with the man known as Katō who proceeded to guide me through the hospital.

I was able to see a little inside some of the rooms we passed. Some of them contained civilians, but, from what I could see, there were a lot of injured, wrapped up in bandages and in various slings. Most likely they were shinobi from the front lines.

Most of them seemed on their way to recovery while others were critically injured. '_How horrible_' I frowned.

Katō, on the other hand, had kept his eyes straight the entire time we were walking. He was obviously used to seeing this. '_He is a shinobi as well_' I concluded.

He didn't have a jacket on at the moment like the other shinobi I'd seen, but I realized he still had a kunai holster around one leg.

He led me up the stairs and around the corner, passing some nurses who were rushing about. He stopped at a door; we had reached our destination. It appeared to be a staff break room.

He opened the door and said in a gentle tone "Zune-chan, I brought you some company. Can you keep an eye out for little Nohara-san for me?"

I glanced past the man and into the room. It was simply decorated with a small table, chairs, a couch, and a few plants, it even had a small window looking outside. And sitting in one of the chairs closest to the window was a small figure that turned in our direction.

As it turned out, Katō's niece was actually a little girl who looked barely older than my age. She had short black hair and black eyes.

She looked at her uncle and perked up a bit, saying "Okay, Ojisan!"

Not a moment after her lips moved, her uncle said a quick goodbye and was out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

'_What a brilliant idea_' I mused. '_Leave a little kid in charge of another little kid._'

* * *

><p>It was silent at first. I walked further into the room and decided to sit down in a chair when the girl finally approached me.<p>

"Hi, my name is Shizune. Who are you?" She inquired with an energetic smile.

"Rin. Nice to meet you Shizune-san" I replied remembering my manners.

Her name, why did it sound familiar to me? She must have been a character from the show. That had to be right.

"How old are you?" I then asked.

"Three, but I'll be four soon" She said with excitement.

"Huh. So you're almost a whole year older than me then" I said thoughtfully.

From there, we talked and shared random things about ourselves. By talking with her, it made me realize that I wasn't exactly sure how to act around other kids my age; I had to ease into it.

Eventually after a few minutes it became easy. Shizune had even convinced me to play a game with her and before I knew it, almost three hours had gone by and we sat on the floor in tired silence.

I had a feeling that we could be great friends.

"So what is your reason for being here?" she finally asked as I was slowly getting up.

She had just asked a question that carried much more weight than she knew. I stopped where I was and wondered.

I had completely forgotten about where I was earlier and even who I was. Why was I here? I didn't remember anything about myself, Rin, being in the main storyline from what I could gather.

'_Was I supposed to…die?_' With a knotted feeling in my gut, I knew I hit the nail on the head. I was going to die, but I couldn't recall when, where, and even how. I just knew.

Seeing an increasing frown on my face, Shizune stepped in thinking I was confused and offered her own answer.

"I'm here because Ojisan is helping out here on his break from being a ninja. He's watching me now that he says Okaasan won't be around anymore…" She said with her voice growing softer as she spoke.

'_Her mother had just died_' I realized. I didn't want her falling apart on me so I tore myself away from my thoughts and responded back quickly.

"Oh! Uh… My Okaasan works here and was needed for extra help!" I said with a grin, trying to distract the girl's thoughts away from impending sadness. It seemed to work.

"Do you want to be a ninja like your Ojisan?" I continued on.

She nodded her head and beamed saying "I want to become a medic-nin so I can help out Ojisan and everyone else! I'll actually be joining the academy soon too!"

She was full of enthusiasm which even caused me to smile. It seemed like a nice goal after seeing what I saw going through the hospital earlier. And to be so carefree… I could only wish for that.

"What about you" she inquired. "Do you want to be a ninja as well?"

My brow furrowed in thought. After a moment, I said "I'm not really sure…"

I could singlehandedly be pushing myself towards my death for all I knew by saying yes. The Rin from the show had been a shinobi too from what I could remember.

She had two other teammates, one whose name was Kakashi. '_He was a main character, wasn't he? Would I be dooming whatever the plot was for the story if I didn't become a shinobi?_' I wondered.

As odd as it was, I felt some sort of obligation to let the plot play out like it was supposed to even though I could scarcely recall what it was, after all '_The ending was happy, right?_'

I had been zoned out for the rest of the day, even after we had been brought lunch by one of the other nurses. Shizune had decided to let me mull my thoughts over and stuck her nose in a book she had brought.

By the time I had come out of my thoughts, the sun was beginning to set low in the sky, casting out a bright orange-red hue and we were picked up by our respective family.

As we began to part ways outside the hospital, I turned and waved at Shizune.

"See ya later Shizune-chan!"

"Bye!" She replied back, sending a wave.

"I take it you enjoyed yourself, Rin-chan?" Okaasan looked to me with tired eyes.

"Oh yes!" I replied enthusiastically. "I can't wait to see Shizune-chan again, we talked about lots of stuff!"

Okaasan's eyes softened as she smiled at my reaction.

"Come, Rin. Let's get home for dinner"

* * *

><p>We made our way back through the streets of Konoha to our apartment building, which wasn't as far from the hospital as I originally thought.<p>

The sun quickly set after we got back, giving in to a dark, starry night.

After Okaasan finished with dinner, I helped her with putting away the dishes…Well, as much as a little kid myself could help anyways. I couldn't help but think about what a day it had been

I had essentially been presented with my own handwriting on the wall, my own destruction, but what was I to do with it?

Okaasan walked into the living room and pulled out a book from one of the bags we brought back from earlier and sat in one of the chairs, motioning me to sit with her.

"You wanted me to tell you the story about the Hokage, right Rin?"

I nodded my head in a sleepy response and curled up next to her. She opened the book and began to read me a story about the history of Konoha, starting with its founders: Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

None of it seemed to ring a bell to me, but maybe it was because I was tired. I continued to listen to her smooth voice as my eyes slipped shut. She was reading about the extraordinary feats accomplished by our predecessors.

She had finished after a little bit and I had dosed off. Okaasan closed the book and scooped me up, carrying me to my small bedroom.

As she was tucking me in, I groggily said to her "Okaasan…I want to be a ninja."

"Why is that?"

"I want to help people like you do, but I want to protect them too. Help protect you and Shizune-chan and the village" I muttered.

Unable to see her face, she whispered out in an unreadable tone "I see. I'll support you no matter what you decide." She kissed my forehead and calmly slipped out of my room.

I had made my decision. I didn't want to be stuck a civilian in a world like this one. There seemed to be so much more in this world than my first one, and I intended to live this life to its fullest.

'_Yes_', I thought, '_there is my death looming over me with the direction I'm heading in, but, as they say "no use crying over spilled milk_"_'_. And better yet, maybe I could prevent that glass from tipping over in the first place.

'_I suppose I'll think more about this tomorrow_.' I was too tired to go on and quickly drifted into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Author's note:<strong> Well, here is chapter two, as promised! If anyone has any thoughts or criticisms, please write a review. I'll take anything I can get to make this story a good one!


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